“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”―all. 6:14.
PAUL, delighted in the cross of Christ. It was the attractive object of his heart. It was his great testimony to the world, and constant ministry to the Church. He knew that he owed all present and eternal blessings to the Lord Jesus, and that the cross was the foundation of all his hope, and the source of all comfort and joy. “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” was, therefore, his constant theme. His life was one of faith on the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him, so that he could say, “For me to live is Christ.” His testimony to the heathen was Christ crucified; his ministry to saints, Christ Himself—His worth, fullness, His infinitely efficacious sacrifice, and everlasting priesthood; His Headship, Lordship, coming. He loved to ponder the personal glories of the Son of God, and to mark the moral glories that shone out in every step of His path―the glory of His humiliation, the glory of His resurrection, and ascension, and coming. Paul felt that he had an omnipotent friend in Christ, so that he could say, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me;” and his confidence in every trouble was, that all things worked together for his good, and that in all these things he was more than conqueror through Him that loved him; so that he could thank God for always giving him to triumph in Christ. His constant, patient hope was, that the Lord Himself would soon come, and that he and those who are Christ’s at His coming would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and be forever with the Lord: so that his firm persuasion was, that nothing would be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul’s whole soul was thus thoroughly in love with Christ, and this gave him such a separate walk; for, as another has said,
“‘Tis the treasure I’ve found in His love
That has made me a pilgrim below;”
and it is especially when contemplating the marvelous glory of Christ crucified for sinners, in contrast with all man’s attempts to glory in the flesh, that he bursts forth with that earnest and decided exclamation ― “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Few men ever had so much naturally to glory in as Paul. As to parentage and family, he was one of pure Hebrew extraction, and belonged to one of the most blessed tribes of the people of Israel. As to character, in a word, his whole life was in man’s eye blameless. As to education, he was most refined and polished― “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.” As to religion, he outstripped most of his neighbors; he tells us, “I profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals;” he belonged to one of the most popular sects of his day; he was not only “a Pharisee,” but “the son of a Pharisee.” But what was his estimate of all these things? He counted them “dung.” The cross of Christ had shown him what man really was. He had learned that, however esteemed that things were among men, they would not bear the holy scrutiny of God. He says, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,” and confessed himself to be “the chief of sinners.” Thus, the more he knew of himself the more cause he saw for self-abhorrence, and the greater reason for glorying only in the cross of Christ.
Again, as a saint, Paul was one of the most devoted followers of Christ that was ever on the earth. As an apostle, his labors were more abundant, and, perhaps, more successful than any. As to sufferings for Christ, his stripes, imprisonments, hunger, and nakedness were, perhaps, beyond most. As to knowledge of divine truth, who ever had such an “abundance of revelations?” But does he glory in his devotedness, gifts, zeal, sufferings, or knowledge? Does he not tell us that he felt he was “less than the least of all saints,” “not meet to be called an apostle,” and that God’s ways were “past finding out?” All these blessed things seemed little before the brightness of the glory and magnitude of the work of the cross; therefore he adoringly cries out, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Why did Paul see such superlative excellency in the cross? Because it was the foundation of life, the foundation of all his blessings, the source of all enduring glory. In that cross he saw that “God is love;” that God had met him there, though a guilty sinner―a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious― and brought him eternal salvation as a free gift. There he saw that God made peace through the blood of the cross. There Paul read his title clearly to stand in glory with Christ forever. Through that cross he received life, righteousness, and eternal redemption. There he could see that God, though holy and just, was merciful to our unrighteousness; and that He who perfectly hates sin manifests the perfect love to the sinner. All fears, therefore, vanish before the cross; doubt and mistrust pass away like vapor before the glory of God in Christ crucified. The old man is here set aside, and new life―eternal life―brought to us. Ah, Paul saw that instead of his being condemned, God there condemned sin in the flesh in His own Son. What exceeding riches of divine grace the cross of the Son of God unfold! It fired the apostle’s soul; it attracted his whole heart; it quieted every fear; it satisfied every desire of a sin-stricken conscience; it drew his affections and mind to things above, where Christ sitteth in glory―to heaven, where Christ entered by His own blood. The precious blood of Christ gave him a key to unlock every treasure in heaven, and a title to share the inheritance with Christ. Had he not, then, abundant reason to glory in the cross, and have not all others who thus know God in Christ? Is it any marvel, then, that Paul so cried out, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?”
Dear reader, what think you of Christ? Do you see that the man Christ jeans who died on the cross is the Son of God, and that He died there for sinners? Is it nothing to you that. God laid the burden and guilt of sin upon His holy and beloved Son, and made Him a curse for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and thus make us fit to stand in God’s presence forever? Did you ever solemnly think of the words of Scripture, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ... and with His stripes we are healed?” Ah, my reader, you cannot escape the coming wrath but through the blood of Christ. His blood alone cleanseth from sin. There is only peace with God through the blood of the cross. Jesus crucified for sinners is the only Saviour; there is salvation in no other. You must either take refuge in Him, and thus learn to glory in the cross, or be in eternal sorrow for having turned your back upon the Son of God who died on the cross to save sinners.
“The cross, its burden, oh, how great!
No strength but His could bear its weight,
No love but His would undertake
To bear it for the sinner’s sake.”